Last week Ireland was trying to say it was an even competition, but last night's game was very telling.

Quote:

Lamar Miller continues to outplay D. Thomas

Lamar Miller rushed eight times for 35 yards and caught a two-yard pass in the Dolphins' Saturday night preseason game against the Bucs.

We keyed on Miller (and Daniel Thomas) in the game, and Miller was not only impressive on his rushing attempts, he excelled in blitz pickups and made a difficult reception on a throw behind him made by Ryan Tannehill. Based on preseason usage, it appears the Fins will open the year with a possession-by-possession rotation of Miller and Thomas that probably won't last because Miller is the clear-cut superior player. Through four preseason games, Miller has 17 carries for 72 yards (4.24 YPC) and one touchdown. He's caught four passes. Miller has also received more deep red-zone carries than Thomas, and was Miami's go-to back in the two-minute offense Saturday night.

Daniel Thomas has looked much better this year. But Miller is a more complete back that has that "5th gear". He is capable of taking it to the house on any play.

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Sun Aug 25, 2013 8:25 am

Big Dave

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Joined: Tue Jan 12, 2010 9:41 amPosts: 10227Location: Raleigh, NC

Re: Lamar Miller continues to outplay D. Thomas

Daniel Thomas looked good in preseason games 2 and 3, but last night he showed poor vision when facing a good run defense. On one play he even ran into the back of one of his players. Heck, the Dolphins were using Miller last night in the red zone. While RotoWorld has been hard on our Dolphins, I tend to agree with his assessment on Thomas.

Thomas has 256 NFL carries. That's a strong sample size, and we've seen him fumble five times while averaging 3.54 yards per tote. Thomas is a concussion-prone plodder who hurts his team by leaving yards on the field due to poor vision and talent deficiencies. As much as the Fins like to pretend they have two starting-caliber backs, they only have one. And it's Lamar Miller. Thomas would be on the roster bubble for a good team.

If you are going to pick a starter, you have to go with Miller as he is the legit "home run" back for the offense. Daniel Thomas however has deserved a roster spot as he can spell Lamar and also help block for Tannehill on obvious passing downs.

Lamar Miller is fun to watch when he breaks to the outside and I can see him having several long runs this season.

Sun Aug 25, 2013 10:11 am

Steve Zissou

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Joined: Tue Jan 12, 2010 7:30 pmPosts: 1689Location: Lakeland, FL

Re: Lamar Miller continues to outplay D. Thomas

Big Dave wrote:

Daniel Thomas looked good in preseason games 2 and 3, but last night he showed poor vision when facing a good run defense. On one play he even ran into the back of one of his players.

That was the big play that stood out to me too. Instead of cutting up and driving through that hole, DT was smeared right into Hartlines legs & i thought "Theres the difference".

Keep in mind Ireland doesn't say much unless he has an agenda. I think he was using DTs positive showings as motivation for Lamar, who was gifted with the starters spot & is young yet

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Sun Aug 25, 2013 11:15 am

AQNOR

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Joined: Tue Jan 12, 2010 10:17 amPosts: 4091

Re: Lamar Miller continues to outplay D. Thomas

Quote:

...Coach Joe Philbin after the game said Thomas’ game wasn’t as bad as it seemed and that the running backs didn’t have enough carries for a fair evaluation. Dolphins center Mike Pouncey got beat on one of Thomas’ negative rushes in the red zone midway through the second quarter. Miami settled for a field goal on that drive.

“I don’t know if they had enough carries to have a great sense,” Philbin said. “I don’t think Daniel had as many good opportunities and clean runs as Lamar had. Lamar appeared to run the ball well. Daniel never really got on track in the running game. I can’t sit here and tell you it was all his fault.”

Miller has had big gains on very few carries. He's a big play waiting to happen.I wasn't buying in on Thomas all along.

Sun Aug 25, 2013 1:54 pm

AQNOR

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Re: Lamar Miller continues to outplay D. Thomas

For those of you that can rewind the game or have access to different camera angles can you tell if what someone I know said about the Bucs D is true or not? He said that the bucs were lining up 8-9 guys in the box effectively stopping the run after the success in the 1st series.

From what I remember in the game it seemed that our runners were being met at the line of scrimmage or in the backfield a lot.

Sun Aug 25, 2013 6:07 pm

NFLJunkie

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Joined: Wed Jan 13, 2010 10:47 amPosts: 6254

Re: Lamar Miller continues to outplay D. Thomas

I think its clear Miller is the more explosive player, and should be; however, that swing pass last week is still sticking with me. It was a drive killer that hit him right in the chest. There was a slight possiblity of him taking that for more yards. He also struggles in pass protection from what I've seen. Even given all that, he is probably the starter because Thomas is a plugger...not a homerun hitter. In any case, Miami is deep at RB and that is good.

Mon Aug 26, 2013 12:55 pm

TommyNoleFin

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Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2011 9:58 amPosts: 1536

Re: Lamar Miller continues to outplay D. Thomas

Mike Gillislee looks solid enough to be the third RB. Jonas Gray probably fumbled away any chance of making this team with his fumble in the 4th quarter that led to the deciding TD.